Saturday, August 17, 2013

Animé Inspiration: Sailor Moon

I'm not sure what it is about this series, why I feel so protective of it, hate to hear it be made of fun and no matter what, determined to be faithful to it...although my faithfulness goes as far as the third season of the original series with the original animation and voice acting cast.Before it went over to Cartoon Network, changed all that and kinda turned into a joke. Whether it was because an American company wanted to change it and make it more solid or whatever else...But if I'm going to be legit about this, I'll discard the third season right away in saying it was my least favorite.As if they found an excuse to keep Serena and Darien from ending up together...supposedly he'd been having nightmares, this voice telling him to stay away from Serena or something bad will happen to her.On top of all that, his affection for her had been "displaced" in Rini... this obvious little girl with pink hair who supposedly came from the future to enlist the help of Sailor Moon in order to save her mom, neo-Queen Serenity, from some sort of illness or something otherwise caused by the villains.Sure, Rini is technically Serena and Darien's future daughter and all that, and her attitude is 100% Serena, so there's karma there.I honestly don't know what I took harder, having to deal with HER or having to deal with the break-up of Serena and Darien.As if my entire life's happiness depended on them staying together.It's just one of those things I guess. I know people are meant to be together so I get pissed when something comes in the way of that.Sure, I get bent out of shape about it on "All my Children," but eventually I do make peace with some couples and other "destined" couples eventually do come back together.So forget that part of Sailor Moon.The first season was about coming to terms of destiny. Serena finding out she was Sailor Moon and the reincarnation of Princess Serena of the Moon Kingdom. As well as her meeting up with her fellow Sailor Scout friends, character development more or less.The second season was mainly about Serena and Darien getting back together. The only difference is that Serena knows they're destined, but conventionally, he has to spend another season with amnesia.The first season went a little into how he never really knew who he was, learning the extent of that, becoming Queen Beryl's slave, and losing his memory all over again after the Sailor Scouts triumphed over evil. To be fair, though, everyone lost their memories after that altercation.Yet they all get those memories back about each other, their identities, etc. within 2 shows of the 2nd season. Why does Darien get the short end of the stick AGAIN? Nostalgia Critic was right, that WAS a bigger tease than Jim & Pam from "The Office"... but I didn't really feel like it was a tease because I came into that show a few seasons in. So I didn't have to "suffer" through like that everyone else.Nostalgia Critic went into how predictable and formulaic Sailor Moon was and also asked why it was so popular.As a HUGE devotee, I really can't put my finger on it myself.I know there are huge problems with the series, don't get me wrong. But yet, I freaking adore it.It actually got me started with my writing. The memories of the things I loved about the show were still very strong and livid in my mind. My favorite angle, as it seems in a lot of Japanese animation... is reincarnation. The idea of people in our time having a destiny from a previous life and coming face to face with it.I drag that out quite a bit with Jonas... heck, it seems like everyone else (well, Nina, his horses and iguanas) know it before he does... But regardless, I just love that.. as well as the destiny he has to find the courage to fulfill.Sometimes I wonder if Nina should have had a place in his previous life... what happens later with her character, way later, would make a lot more sense.The biggest critique that Sailor Moon gets is... pretty close between the recycled animation that they show every single time and the fact Serena is unreliable and unable to get herself out of trouble.Why I find her endearing, I'm not quite sure. But I do know that I get annoyed when people undervalue her or are downright mean to her. Darien's kind of a jerk early on so it's hard to imagine them being together... at least until I found out the full extent of his character so I take that with a grain of salt because there is EVENTUALLY a pay-off.The main perp is Raye aka Sailor Mars. Her attitude is horrible, always putting down Serena, never taking her seriously. I suppose there has to be a character like that in the Sailor Scouts, but does it have to be the one with dark hair and dark eyes like me?I have a little more in common with Lita, but I think she has green eyes.Mina/Sailor Venus, I don't really know all that well, but what I have seen of her, I like her a lot.Amy/Sailor Mercury, we're both brainacs, but her IQ is off the charts, unlike mine :-PRaye is the reason why I have the antagonist Rayven in "Jonas"... at least I gave her a little more original character than Mai, who was pretty much Mai Valentine in different surrounding and minus the Duel Monsters cardsSo yeah, my love for it comes from the reincarnation angle, reliving destinies, true-destined love...I'm a sucker for a couple that's meant to be together. I just wish there wasn't so much drama about it.As far the so-called "fanservice" angle, the fact that all the girls are 14-15-16 and overly sexualized with the sexy Japanese schoolgirl uniforms...I don't read into it quite as much as everyone else has. I don't care that that's there... I suppose that is there because "sex sells" as the classic saying goes.But I take it the same way as I do with "Suckerpunch"... I swear, I thought that was going to be a hit because of how it looked... Yeah, I hate when people read into stuff so deep so to ruin it people like me trying to enjoy ourselves.I just enjoy that kind of stuff. That's how I roll :sigh: